LaPorte County may consider lowering its proposed wheel tax.
As written, the proposed ordinance would impose a $25 excise tax on passenger cars, starting next year, and a $15 tax on motorcycles. There would also be a $40 wheel tax on larger vehicles, like semi-trucks and RVs.
But the proposal drew criticism during a public hearing last week. Several residents, including county Farm Bureau president Mark Parkman, encouraged county council members to start with a lower amount.
"This tax is going to hit a lot of the smaller businesses a little bit harder," Parkman said. "I myself have a lot of machinery to do a lot of work but don’t have a lot of employees. We don’t run it every day."
Others felt the tax would unfairly burden poorer residents, who happen to own multiple vehicles.
Council members said the tax is necessary to offset revenue lost because of changes in state law. It also opens the door to additional road funding from the state.
But county commissioner candidate Jody Slabaugh felt that local officials should focus their attention on state lawmakers, rather than county taxpayers. "Our state representatives and senators should be fighting for a larger share of the money LaPorte County taxpayers are already sending to Indianapolis," Slabaugh said. "Let’s demand better funding from the state."
Some residents wanted an exact figure of how much lost revenue the county was looking to make up, but council member Justin Kiel said that’s hard to determine because the state makes so many changes. "It’s a lot of levers being moved constantly, and it is very hard to keep track of what exactly the fiscal impact is from year to year," Kiel said. "Sometimes, they change it, change it back, change it in different ways. It’s pretty wild."
In the end, Kiel said he’d support lowering the proposed wheel and excise taxes to the state minimum – $7.50 for cars and motorcycles, and $5 for trucks and RVs. They’ll be up for a vote on Monday.
